House Hardliners Prepare To Vet Speaker Candidates

He argues McCarthy is short of the 218 votes needed on the House floor to be elected Speaker. “Moving people up the leadership ladder is not going to happen”. “We’re ready for change in Washington, not more of the same. That’s what we are going to have to overcome”. House G-O-P hardliners, many of whom are reluctant to support McCarthy are preparing to interview the three candidates for speaker. Why not take a full month?

“I’m trying to unify us, so instead of firing on each other we can fire on the Democrats”, he said.

Chaffetz noted that the House election for speaker requires a winning candidate to obtain a majority – 218 votes if all 435 members are present and vote. “We are looking for specifics-not just assurances, but guarantees”.

Naturally, given his affiliation with Sheldon Adelson and his co-sponsorship of the Restoration of America’s Wire Act (RAWA), Chaffetz would likely push to impose a blanket ban on all forms of online gambling in the USA if he was able to succeed the current incumbent John Boehner, who is officially stepping down at the end of October. Boehner, under fire from Republican members as being insufficiently conservative, got no bump in the latest Economist/YouGov Poll, conducted after his surprise resignation Friday. Freedom Caucus members credit him for his bottom-up leadership style and appreciate the effort he’s made to build relationships with them. “I want to clean the barn up a little bit before the next person gets there”.

Employees of Nu Skin Enterprises, a company that markets personal care products, have given Chaffetz $68,850 over his career, making it his top donor.

The shorter tenures of today’s Republican class continue a congressional experience gap between GOP lawmakers and Democrats, which has persisted since the 1960s and widened after the 2010 elections. “An affirmative vote for this plan…is a specific intent to disfavor me as an incumbent”.

Who do you think should be the next Speaker of the House? “How will you treat people fairly?” Despite supporting bills that a few conservatives dislike, including an online sales tax bill known as the Marketplace Fairness Act, he said he would listen to his caucus before pursuing his own ideological agenda. “I am confident I can bridge this divide and work effectively together with all members of our Conference”. I don’t hold anything against Jason. “And that could be an ugly situation”, he said. And his viability as a speaker nominee became even more tenuous last week after he implied that a special investigation into the 2012 attacks in Libya is politically motivated. He took the family values route, claiming Internet gambling would lead to kids downloading phone apps and blowing their parents money without them even noticing.

It may not be what their constituents care about, but process matters, conservatives say.

“I’m not John Boehner”, Farenthold said, describing McCarthy’s pitch.

The vote to elect the GOP candidate for speaker is set for Thursday.

Sorry, but it’s hard not to believe this is a way of ensuring that McCarthy – a quintessential backroom power broker said to have been a real-life model for “House of Cards” wheeler-dealer Frank Underwood – wins the post while conservatives are left with crumbs. There are a lot of members who can get primaried and not walk the same plank again. “He said it wasn’t a good choice of words”.